Life, the universe, and motherhood according to me. I'm a feminist, a liberal, a Presbyterian, and mom to three amazing young children, one with Down syndrome. All that is reflected here, along with whatever I might be feeling at the moment (quite often, it will be exhaustion).

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

I have not been particularly amazed by the ages at which Ada has reached various milestones so far.

Part of that is because I think we tend to forget how helpless little babies are, which is part of why we expect (and, often, receive) more rapid progress from younger siblings than first children. They have older child role models, and parents who are used to children exercising a bit of independence.

Ada has always been developmentally ahead of the curve: she held up her head securely the moment she was born (and could lift it while being on her tummy). She rolled over, sat unassisted, started crawling, grew 8 teeth, all of that pretty quickly. She also learned peekaboo, patty cake, and fake coughing,

But Ellie learned all of those things too, and if maybe a month or two or more later on some of the motor tasks, well, she was turning pages of books earlier, and playing the social games at least as well, as quickly.

I have enjoyed watching both of them progress, but I haven’t had too many set expectations of either girl, so I was pleased but not amazed when Ada started exhibiting her natural strengths.

No, the biggest surprise for me has been the trajectory of progress within a specific skill, rather than the expected differences in age at first reaching a milestone.

One day, I walked in and found Ellie sitting up in bed. “Did I leave her sitting up?” I wondered. I must have done, because it didn’t happen again for a while. Then it happened once more. Then again. Long pause. Several occurrences. It was quite a while before it was a mastered skill.

With Ada, I saw her sitting up in bed one morning, and then every nap and morning from then on. From emergence to mastery oh-so-quickly!

Ada turned 8 months old last weekend. She’s really getting quite chubby, and loves this whole solid food gig. She’s also getting too long for many of her 6-9 month outfits already, and she loves pulling herself up and trying to cruise on anything that will stand still long enough.

She goes to bed around 7:00 pm at her own insistence, wakes to eat around 5:00 am, goes back to sleep, then gets up for the day around 7:00. She might or might not nap a little throughout the day.

I’m leaving her with someone other than Paul or myself for short periods a couple of times a week, and the separation anxiety seems to be getting a little better.

Already she’s so huge. My little baby is much closer to being a toddler than an infant, now!

Thank you! And I'm happy to oblige with the pictures, as soon as I get around to wrestling more off the camera. I've been indulging in a guilty pleasure: dressing my girls alike. Later, they can resent me for it. Now, it makes me happy. They're so cute!

Good luck with A. Separation anxiety is so, so difficult and frustrating!

About Me

I used to work in publishing; now I stay home with my three young children. Late at night, when everyone else sleeps, I write.
The characters: daughter Ellie (13), daughter Ada (9), son Teddy (5), and husband Paul (39).